Losing unwanted baggage

When we are first saved and come into this wonderful life called Christianity, we arrive with so much baggage from the past it can seem overwhelming, and often is, once we realise what a burden those old habits, character flaws and desires had been for so long.

The good news is that they can be thrown off. We can deal with them. In fact, many of them are lifted off when we accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour. A weight is taken from our shoulders. From then on we can cast our cares on the Lord.

Jesus told us that He would share the load. He likened it to a yoke on the neck of an ox that pulled a plough. He would help us carry the weight of life, and show us how to lighten the load through trust in His ways.

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

Those old things can be removed from us. But what about those issues that remain? Can we offload problematic weights that seem to stick to us?

I know that in my walk I had a period where I was being constantly reminded, in my mind, of all the terrible things I did before I became a believer.

My first realisation that I had been sinful towards God’s will and to others led to a great remorse, a powerful repentance with tears, plus a number of apologies to those I had potentially or actually hurt along the way.

This isn’t actually a bad thing. It’s a normal response to the opening of our eyes when we receive the Holy Spirit as our Comforter and Counsellor. It is a repentance not to be repented of. We hand it over to God, ask for forgiveness, and move on. In other words it is getting the old man out of the way to allow the ascendancy of the new.

Overwhelming guilt

The thing was, though, that this situation went on for an age. It seemed that every time I confessed one set of errors another would pop up. The weight of confession of sins was overpowering the fact that I had been made a new creature in Christ. Instead of joy I was being smothered by the misery of realisation of what a rotten human being I had been.

This wasn’t so good. It wasn’t Biblical either. The original remorse and repentance was a natural outworking of a spiritual outcome, but the constant pressure on my soul to rehearse and revise everything of my past was weighing me down.

Thankfully, we were very hungry and listened to many sermons by godly men and women. One such message gave the understanding that every sin I had committed had been covered at the cross of Christ, and that God had cast every remembrance of my sin as far as the east is from the west.

I had a picture of approaching the cross of Christ and going through it into another dimension of life beyond the cross, into the resurrection life, into righteousness–right standing with God, cleansed from sin, guilt, and without shame.

I was a new creature in Christ. Old things had passed away. All things had been made new. I was free from the antics and excesses of the old man. Now I should choose to walk in the newness of this life in Christ.

Set free

What a relief. The old skeletons in my closet could finally receive the burial they deserved. In fact, they had been buried with Christ in His tomb. I had no need of them. I was made free through faith in Christ.

Don’t allow the enemy of faith to bring up who you were to such an extent that you lose sight of who you are in Christ. The adversary will nag you and cajole you into submission if you let him. No! Don’t allow it.

Take authority. Resist the devil and he will flee! Remind him that you have been made free by the death and resurrection of Jesus and you are no longer the devil’s possession, but have been bought with a price–the precious blood of Jesus.

If God has forgotten our old ways, we should too.

Photo: Raquel Brepohl for unsplash.com